batho



Marh 13, 1945. w. F. BATHo RAILWAY DUMP CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet l lFile@ June 17, 1945 Il Il March 13, 1945. w. F. BA1-Ho 2,371,277

l RAILWAY DUMP CAR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed June 17, 194s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 13, 1945 nauwer DUMP cAn noon oPEnAriNG ivmcnnmsrr William` F. Batho, Chicago, Ill., assigner to Enterprise Railway' Equipment` Company,y Chicago,

Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application June 1.7, 1943, Serial Nou 491,].80 5 claims. (ci. ione-som My' invention relates to improvement in` dump car door operating Inechanisi'ns,` and is especially related to that general type of` door operating mechanism having` a bodily movable and rotatable shaft adapted to travel from a position be. yond' the free. edge of the door to asupporti-ng position beneath the free edge thereof.

In this typeV of car a single` shaft is arranged toi operate a plurality of doors and each door is connected with the shaft by exible: connections.;v such aspivotally connected links or chains, which wind around. the shaft to close the door. `It ire-v duently occurs that some of the doors controlled` by` the shatt are held closed either by freezing. or' by intentional propping up, in which event therllexihle connections associated withtheclosed doors do not properly unwind with the rotation of. the shaftr but instead piler up or jam against theuunderside of the car sills andframefand iii-- tedere with: the rotation of the shaft,-

The. principal object of my invention is to? over` come` tendency tojam or pileA up by the provision of means which. causes the iiexible chains to properly unwind even though the door is held in closed; position. r i

AnotherA object of the invention is to improve i' vthe winding connections fory the doors tov adaptthemi to] the practice of deliberately proppi'ng-npin closed position some ofV the 'doors' operated by the shaft, this practice being employed where it is Fig. 5 isa transverse horizontal section sul stantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3; and

Fig.V d is a View illustrating the flexible' con `nectiomi completely unwound, but with the door f, in closed position.

In the drawings '1. have shown a dooroperating vmechanism especially adapted for cars of the desired to discharge the car load through a. lesser nnmberof doors. i v

these and other objects ofthe invention, my invention consists in the construction, combiscribeci in connection with the accompanying drawings which illustrate one embodiment ofthe invention. t

Referring to the' accompanying drawings,

Fig; 1 is a; vertical transverse section through one haltI of the underframe of a car, and showing. one of the dump doors andthe shaft and flexible connections associated therewith for openingand closing the door;

parts shown in Fig. 1;.` l i Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, takeni ontheli'ne 3-31 of Eig. 5 but showingthe shaft. bodily moved to the outer position from beneath the free edge of the door and. about to` start the unwind;- ing of the flexible connections; y

Fig. 4. is. another similar viewshowing, the un'.- wlnding ofthe flexible connections with. the door in closed position;

Fig. 2 isr an enlarged view of. the door operatingA i drop-bottom door type,`which`have a plurality ot doors on each-side oi thecenter sill operated from th'e ends ol?k the car through the medium di a; shaft which extends longitudinally of the car and just underneath the car side sills; In cars oithis type, each shaft is arranged to operate several doors simultaneously, but in the-drawings I'have illustrated only one oi the winding meenf anisms operated by the shaft for opening and closing the doors.

The. car as `shown has a center sill' A, crossbeams l, and side sills 2. Discharge openings are thus provided between the center and side sills and the crossbeams which are closed by flat doors B which bear at their margins against the .under side of the cover plates on the center sills. and: crossbeams, and on' the under side of the side sills. The doors are hinged at 3 at their inner margins adjacent the center sill, andare adapted toswing about these hingesto open or closed; po sitions.- The doors are reinforced by downwardly extending marginal flanges 4. v.

The operating shaft C` is mounted in bearingr castings. 5 which are secured tol and supportedA by the crossbeams t. These bearings are formedl as elongated slots t which permit of a bodily movement of the shaft `upon rotation in' a gennaon. and, arrangement. of parts herenafte, de; orallyr horizontal direction so'that the shaft moves bodily upon rotation into or out ofV door-supporting position. The shaft is connected. with the door by flexible connections form-ing. winding mechanisms which` swing the door to open or closed positions. Generally two of these winding.' mechanisms are provided for each door which the. shaft serves. In the drawings, however, only vone of these mechanisms is shown detail sinne the others are duplicates thereof.

Each ofi` these winding mechar'iisms includes four links l, 8, S, and H), which are adapted' to Wind about a hub member H on the shaftrwhe'n the doorisswung to closed position and to unwind from saidhub when the door is lowered to' open position.l The links 8f and l0? are iorr'nedas' single members and the links I and- 9 are each formed of two members spaced. apart'. The ends of links 8 and Ill: are positioned-between the' Vmembers which form the links 't and 9. These links arev pivotally connected to'each other by means of K placed against the doors.

the rivets l2, as is usual in this type of flexible operating connections.

The end of the link l is pivotally connected by means of a rivet I3 to an arm I5 on the operating hub Il. The end of the link I is pivotally connected by means of the rivet I6 to the other end of a door supporting link D which is formed of two spaced Yapart members I1. The other ends of link D members I1 are pivotally mounted on a` rivet I8 which is supported by the walls I9 of an inverted boxlike casting 20 which is fastened to the underside of the door between its outer iange 4 and a Z-shaped angle reinforcement member 2l extending parallel to the flange 4. The link D extends through a notch in the ange '4 of the door and has fiat bearing surfaces 22 upon which the flange notch is supported. The outer endof this link extends outwardly beyond the flange 4 of the door in positionto rest upon and be supported by bearing lugs 23 on the hub I I when the shaft is in normal locking position at the inner ends of its bearing slots, as shown more clearly in Fig. 2. The end link IU has laterally projecting lugs 24 which are adapted to be engaged by the lugs 25 on the hub member I I upon the continued rotation of the shaft after the shaft has receded to the outer ends of its bearing slots to apply a positive force directly to the supporting link D to swing the link downwardly and start theunwinding of the link connections.

r In the closed position of the door, the parts are in the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In this position the shaft is in` the inner end of its bearing slots beneath the outer end of link D, thus supporting the door in closed position through the medium of the link D. In order to open the door, the rotation of the shaft in a clockwise direction causes the shaft to be moved bodily outwardly in its bearing slots until it reaches the ends of such slots, whereupon the lugs 25 engage the lugs 24 and force the door supporting link D downwardly. Since the door is supported by the link D, it likewise will move downwardly with the link, and as the links unwind from the hub of the shaft the door will be lowered to its open position. If, however, the door is frozen closed or is intentionally propped in closed position, the link D Will swing downwardly about its pivot I8 independently of the door, as shown in Fig. 3, and allow the other links l, 8, 9 and I Il to hang downwardly in a looped condition and cannot become jammed or interfere with the rotation of the operating shaft.

It frequently happens in cars of this type that.

one or more of the doors operated by a common shaft are frozen in closed position, while the other doors controlled by said shaft will open normally. It is also desirable at times to open only one or twoof the doors controlled by a common shaft In this case, the remaining doors are intentionally held in closed. position by props which are The advantage of my invention, and particularly the pivoted link connection D with the door, is that under these conditions the winding mechanisms of the doors which are held closed will unwind normally and h ang downwardly in loops, as shown in Fig. 6, and not interfere with the rotation of the shaft or the operation of the winding mechanisms which are connected with the doors that are being opened. This is due to the fact that the link D is hinged or pivoted at an appreciable distance inwardly from the free edge of the door, thus enabling it to swing downwardly independently of the door in the event the door is held closed and provide suiiicient clearance between itself and the shaft to allow the other links of the connection to unwind downwardly in a loop.

'I'he bearing surfaces 22 on link D provide an adjustment for regulating the tightness With which the door closes against the margins of the discharge opening. By grinding off the lug surfaces or adding metal thereon by welding, the tightness of the door closure can be adjusted as desired.

I claim:

l. In a dump car of the type having a plurality of bottom discharge doors operated by a common shaft adapted to move bodily from a position beneath the. free edge of the door, a door operating mechanism comprising a flexible connection connected at one end to the shaft and adapted to wind around the shaft, and a door supporting member hinged to the under side of the door adjacent its free edge and extending beyond the free edge of the door to rest upon said shaft and adapted when the shaft is moved bodily to swing downwardly independently of the ldoor when the door is otherwise held in closed position, said flexible connection being connected at its other end tosaid door supporting member.

2. In a dump car of the type having a pluralityl of bottom discharge doors operated by a common shaft adapted to move bodily to and from a door supporting position beneath the free edge of the door, the combination of a door supporting member hinged at one end to the door adjacent ts free edge and extending with its other end beyond the free edge of the door to rest upon said shaft and support the door in closed position, said door supporting member being adapted to swing downwardly on its hinge independently of the door in the event of the door being held closed, and a flexible winding connection connected at one end to the shaft and adapted to wind upon and unwind fiomsaid shaft, and having its other end connected to the extended end of said door supporting member.

l3. In a door operating mechanism for dump cars of the type having a plurality of bottom discharge doors operated by a common mechanism,

comprising a rotatable shaft bodily movable to;

and from a position beneath the free edges of the doors, a plurality of links forming a exible connection adapted .to wind upon the shaft to close the door, and a door supporting member pivotally mounted at one end on the undersideA of the door adjacent its edge and having its other end extending beyond'the edge of the door and pivotally connected to the end of said exible connection, said pivotally mounted member having its extended end adapted to rest upon the,`

shaft to support the door in closed position land adapted to be swung downwardly independently of the door in the event the door is held in closed position and adapted to cause the flexible connection to loop downwardly and hang free of the shaft as it is unwound therefrom.

4. In a dump car of the class described, the combination of a car body having a bottom discharge opening, a door for said opening adapted to swing downwardly, an operating shaft mounted to shift bodily to and from a position beneath the edge of the door, and a flexible connection comprising a, series of pivotal links connected with said shaft and with saiddoor and adapted to wind upon and unwind from the shaft in the closing andopening operation of the door, said exible connection including an end link pivotally connected to the underside1 of the door inwardly of the free edge thereof and extending be- :rond the edge of the dooi` to rest upon the shaft and support the ldoor in closed position, said end link being adapted to swing downwardly independently of the door in the event the door is lheld in closed position and to thereby cause the links of the flexible connection to hang downwardly in a loop free of the shaft as theyare unwound from the shaft.

5. In a dump Car of the class described, the combination of a car body having a bottom discharge opening, a door for said opening adapted to swing-downwardly, an operating shaft niounted to shift bodily to and from a position beneath the edge of the door', and a flexible connection comprising a series of pivotal links connected with said shaft and with said door and adapted to wind upon and unwind from the shaft in the closing and opening operation of the door, said flexible connection including an end link pivotally connected to the underside of the door adjacent the free edge thereof and extending beyond the edge of the door to rest upon the shaft and support the door in closed position, said end link being adapted when the shaft is bodily shifted from beneath said link to swing downwardly in dependently of the door in the event the door is held in closed position and to thereby cause the links of the flexible connection to hang downwardly in a loop free of the shaft as they are un- Wound from the shaft, said end link having an adjustable bearing portion upon which the margin of the door rests for regulating the tightness of the door in closed position.

WILLIAM F, BATHO. 

